Accipiter sp.—Bird Hawks

Although often considered woodland hawks, suitable habitat generally is expectable
within raptor range of most sites. Their identification, then, offers little in the way
of ecological data. Furthermore, accipiters are widespread geographically. All tend to
rely heavily on birds as prey.

Accipiter cooperii (Bonaparte
1828)—Cooper's Hawk

Cooper's Hawk is widespread in our region today. Favored prey seems to be quail
and doves (Ligon 1961), though other birds are widely utilized. Ligon mentions
specifically flickers as being a favored food, perhaps accounting for the relatively
high number of flickers recovered from cave sites.